When I was a kid, my mom would let me hang a few ornaments and then touching the tree once completed was forbidden!

But I want Jack and Sam to remember decorating the tree (and Christmas as a whole) as a fun and joyous time with family...not that my childhood Christmas weren't, but it wasn't fun to not be included in decorating fun.

So I came up with some fun games and activities involving your Christmas tree!

A great way for your kids to enjoy the tree, but also learning to respect and treat it carefully.

Activities:

1. Let them pick out a special ornament from the store. If its an ornament of their very own, they will be more likely to treat it carefully.

(This year, Jack picked out a Buzz Lightyear ornament...he carried it home like baby and still points it out to EVERYONE!)

2. Make paper ornaments (snowflakes, etc.), popcorn and cranberry garland, or hand-painted ornaments. Jack felt a great sense of accomplishment once he knew he contributed something to the tree.

Games:

1. Enjoy looking at some sentimental ornaments. Include a story about that character or how you received that ornament.

2. Spy some Christmas shapes! Find all the bells, stars, or angels on the tree.

3. Christmas Color fun! Find all the red, green, or white ornaments on the tree.

4. Christmas Counting fun! Count all the different ornaments...or even the presents underneath the tree!

5. Christmas fun with textures! Look at all the different textures...is it a shiny ball, or a glittery angel?

Step 4: sew you liner pieces (right sides together) in a basic bag form with a hole in the bottom to turn inside out

Step 5: now it can get a little tricky...lay the completed piece (outside fabric) down on the table and lay the piece with the hole (liner fabric) right on top. So counting the "sheets" of fabric, there will be 4 on top of one another (the bottom 2 sewn together and the top 2 sewn together).

Pinch the VERY BOTTOM sheet and the VERY TOP sheet together and fold the 2 middle pieces down inside so you will not catch them in the sewing machine.

Step 6: Fold the loop in half and place IN BETWEEN your pinched layers with the TRI-FOLD SEAM FACING DOWN. Pin in place.

(so to re-cap, loop seam facing down pinned between the top and bottom layers...the middle layers smooshed down so as not to catch them in the sewing machine)

Step 7: Sew the fabric all the way around; double up around the loop for extra support.

Step 8: After sewing, it should look like this.

Step 9: Then, turn right side out thru the little hole we left in the liner.

Now it look like this...much like a pillow case.

Step 10: Sew the little hole closed.

Step 11: Then stuff the liner part into the main part.

Step 12: Iron the bag flat a little and top stitch around the opening.

Step 13: Reinforce the sides about an inch down for extra support...and this helps the bag to not "gape" open when hanging in the car.

All done!

And quick too...it only took me about 20 minutes to make!

And a quick way to present it to a friend...

I took a regular sticky Christmas name tag and stuck it on some card stock. Roll up the bag, punch a hole in the card stock and tie with a ribbon!

Thanks so much everyone for all your awesome projects! All the creativity is just too much!

Due to time constraints, I was not able to post comments to each and every link. I will try my very best in future parties to post to every link, but may not be able to.

If you were featured today, please feel free to snag the featured button for your blog!

This week, I'm linking up our Hand-Print Christmas Tree Kids craft!

Now its your turn

to link up something CHRISTMASY!

1. Link up something crafty, creative, or fun that you wanna share that is Christmas or Winter Holiday related!

2. Please link to the blog post and not your main page.

3. No shopping pages please. An offer to buy your item at the end of a tut is welcomed!

4. Snag the Mad Skills button and include it on your tut post so others can see where you've linked! (PS- this button was designed from my sons art work....if you are interested in a custom button, please contact me!)

5. PLEASE VISIT AT LEAST 2 OTHER LINKS IN THE PARTY AND LEAVE SOME COMMENT LOVE!

We were going to do one for both kiddo's, but Jack elected to play Lego's instead.

Here's what you need:

construction paper

green paint

yellow paint (we ended up not using it)

paint brush
green glitter (optional)

puff balls

marker

We painted Sammy's hand green with the paint brush and made hand prints in a triangle pattern. You can do a yellow hand print at the top for a star (but we ran out of room). We put a yellow puff ball on top instead.

Next, sprinkle a little green glitter and glue down some puff balls for the ornaments. Lastly, I wrote Samuel Glenn 2010 at the bottom with a black sharpie.

Seven things about ME:
1. I never make my bed.
2. I take my shoes off at work.
3. I wash the ice cube trays in the dish washer.
4. I never use dryer sheets.
5. I make my husband clean the toilets. Ug.
6. I talk in my sleep...so my husband says.
7. I LOVE CHRISTMAS!